


Insanity

by Sky_King



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Adoption, Because Inagaki is allergic to them, Byakuya adopts Senkuu from an orphanage, Byakuya best dad, Character Study, Families of Choice, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, I don't really think this is how canon went, Ishigami Byakuya loves his son, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Senkuu has trust issues, Senkuu is a really smart kid, Senkuu's backstory, alternate first meeting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:48:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21542485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sky_King/pseuds/Sky_King
Summary: Senkuu gets adopted by Byakuya.Personally? Senkuu thinks the man's lost it.(Only an insane person would want him around, after all.)
Relationships: Ishigami Byakuya & Ishigami Senkuu
Comments: 57
Kudos: 603





	Insanity

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I think canonically Senkuu never went through an orphanage, he went directly to Byakuya after losing(?) his parents. So I guess this is sort of an au?
> 
> I rewrote this 3 times asdfghjk and it finally sees the light.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy?

For as long as he could remember, Senkuu had lived in an orphanage.

Which wasn’t exactly that grand of a statement, given that he was currently two years of age.

It was a rather dull life, all things considered. There wasn’t much to do in the orphanage; except keep himself clean and smile at the visitors.

Little Senkuu was always so terribly bored, with the other kids his age barely learning the numbers, and how to read. The older kids weren't exactly an option either, clearly thinking him too weird, too odd to hang out with. A lot of prospective parents thought as much, as well.

A lot of the times it was because of his strange hair, or his weird words; others because of his freaky eyes.

He wasn’t too sure what they meant by that last one, though. Because it wasn’t his eye-color, but his stare.

He had too many questions in his eyes, they said as they pulled away.

So it was rather unsurprising that Senkuu got very bored, very fast. When he was left alone— a rather often occurrence— he sneaked away toys from the play pen to dismantle, figure out how they worked and reassembling them on his own. It was an interesting exercise, which he repeated over and over again— they didn’t exactly have that many toys at this rundown orphanage.

He still wasn’t too sure what an orphanage was, now that he remembered. The concept of parents wasn’t something he ever remembers having, or missing, and honestly not something he particularly _wants_.

The “future parents” came here, always as a couple, always looking for kids— babies really— Senkuu’s age. They would coo over them, and sometimes a kid would be picked, documents would be filed and they’d leave forever.

To a happy home, his current handler always said. When Senkuu asked what did that entail they always mentioned the same vague concepts.

Warm meals, loving parents, a soft bed, and lots of new clothes and toys.

So basically, like a sponsor.

He could see the appeal in all those things, but he still couldn’t wrap his head around the reason why. What would fully functioning adults gain out of sponsoring drooling, smelly kids after all?

(What was it that he didn't have? Was it something he could learn? Or was there something he could do to compensate?)

This train of thought didn’t make him happy, so he tried not dwelling too much on it. So instead, he tried turning his attention to his handlers. The people around him were always changing after all, which was the only interesting development in his rather short life.

Male, female, old or young, they always ended up tired of his endless questions. They first tried answering, then distracting him when they couldn’t, then they would try to bribe him, and when even that proved ineffective, deciding to ignore him entirely.

But it was okay, he had his toys, he had the TV to learn more words when the books proved insufficient, he didn’t really need more.

(He didn’t expect more.)

* * *

He came close to being adopted a couple times.

But they would coo at him, talking to him as if he wasn't perfectly capable of understanding, and it just pissed him off a lot.

He didn’t like being talked down to. Almost as much as he didn’t like huddling under his too-thin blanket, in his too stiff mattress, night after night, with no other company than the TV, and kids that were too “normal” and too “sane”.

Senkuu was neither. That, he knew very well.

(That didn’t stop him from hurting all the same.)

* * *

Despite meeting new faces every single day, the routine stayed the same. And even though he should know better, his feelings did not feel any less strongly.

So when an adult stranger came up to him, a big broad grin on his face, little four-year-old Senkuu wasn’t expecting much.

He just looked up from the toy robot he was reassembling, no longer even bothering looking at it as he seamlessly put it back together. It would have been ridiculous if he couldn’t do at least that much given that he had done this ten million times.

At first it confused him, because this man wasn’t wearing the orphanage’s uniform. So he couldn’t be a new handler. Somehow Senkuu’s eyes were locked on his funny-looking beard. It was just hair on his face, but somehow he’d never thought beards could be trimmed to look like that. Maybe it even grew like that naturally. Senkuu wanted to ask.

“H-hello there, Senkuu-kun.” The man had said, with a crack in his voice. The kid snapped back to attention, meeting eyes that shone a little too bright. Odd. “How do you do? My name is Ishigami Byakuya.”

“Does your beard grow like that naturally?” Senkuu asked, giving no indication he had already memorized his name, face, and voice. The adult blinked in surprise at the non-sequitur, his face going through the first stage of acquaintances: Indulging him.

“My beard?” He laughed softly, as he raised a hand to muss it, “Do you like it? It doesn’t grow like this, I have to trim it myself.”

“Oh,” Senkuu nodded to himself. “Makes sense, I guess.”

“Would you like to grow a beard like this yourself?”

He squinted up at the man, as he considered his words. “Seems too much of a hassle. But enough of this, why are you here?”

Byakuya smiled again, that soft, tender smile. So odd. “Right,” he said. “Senkuu-kun, I’m going to be your father from now on. If-if you’d like that, of course.”

It took him by surprise. Somehow, hope threatened to crawl up his chest, despite his best intentions. Senkuu huffed, shaking his head. “Bold words for an old man. Are you sure you can handle me?”

In his little heart he knew not to expect much. He knew he was too weird, too strange. He looked down at his robot, apathy looming over him.

He was snapped out of it when the man crouched, slowly, carefully. Intelligent eyes trained on him.

“I will try,” he said, softly, earnestly. Actually bothering with answering his questions instead of brushing them off. Looking him straight in the eyes without cringing in disgust or fear. “I will try as many times as necessary to be a good father to you, Senkuu-kun. I promise to be your number one supporter, I promise to give you anything and everything you need. You are a very special kid, and you deserve the world. I want to be the one to give it to you, will you accept me?”

Senkuu stared into his eyes.

Vibrant, intelligent eyes that saw right through him. Not as the odd-looking baby he was, but as Senkuu, and all it entailed.

Looking at him, and _still, somehow wanting to be with him._

“You’re insane.” Senkuu informed him, hugging his toy close to his chest, immediately regretting his choice of words— regretting speaking at all. But all the other man did was laugh, somehow lacking in malice.

(Byakuya didn’t turn him away.)

(And he never would.)

* * *

The drive home was silent.

Senkuu was happy he was being adopted, don't get him wrong. But after so many years of blatant disregard, of jeers and taunts, and the ever-bitter rejection, he was reluctant to believe.

So when he found himself sitting in the back of quite a nice car, with his —future? prospective? tentative?— father at the wheel, he didn’t know how to feel.

It was all so surreal.

Why had he been picked?

Did he not mind his gravity-defying hair? Did he not mind his unnerving eyes? Did he not mind the barrage of questions that came out of his lips?

It was illogical.

Because so far, there had not been a single person who looked into his eyes, _really_ looked, and not turned away from him.

Uncomfortable, unnerved. Disgusted. He had an entire catalog of expressions and enough words to match them.

Yet, Byakuya had looked like none of them.

This entire scenario was so illogical, that when the car began losing speed, veering off to the side of the road before slowing to a stop, Senkuu was briefly scared, but also resigned.

This made more sense, after all.

But Byakuya didn’t tell him to get off, didn’t try to get rid of him. The man just pressed his face against his hands on the steering wheel and sobbed. Quietly, wetly, he sobbed into his hands without warning, or apparent motive.

Senkuu didn't know what to do. This had never happened before.

"I'm sorry, Senkuu. I didn't... I'm just too happy I finally found you. I'm too happy you're my son." Little Senkuu stared at him in silence, and for the first time in what felt like ten thousand million seconds, he let hope creep into his heart again.

Was Senkuu crazy enough to hope for a happy future?

Was _Byakuya_ crazy enough for him to hope?

“What do you mean,” Senkuu began, weighing the words in his mouth, feeling them heavy with fear, because nobody ever reacted well to him _asking_. He clenched his little fists before saying them anyway. “What do you mean you found me?”

Byakuya swallowed his tears, breathing in deeply— as if to calm himself, but the man did not look angry. He turned around, as far as he could with the seat-belt still on, to face him. “A very dear friend of mine passed away four years ago. It was an accident; he had been traveling with his family. And… and out of all of them, the only one missing was their baby boy. And I… I promised myself I would find that boy. I-I would find him, and love him, and treat him like my son.” Byakuya hiccuped a laugh, looking at Senkuu as if he mattered at all. “And I found you.”

Senkuu was silent.

“You were looking for me?” He said much redundantly, the words escaping his mouth before he could think to stop them.

He felt funny.

Byakuya just smiled, as if Senkuu stating the obvious _wasn’t annoying_. “I was. And I found you.”

“But… But why? You don’t know me; you didn’t have to…”

“Senkuu,” Byakuya cut him off softly, gently. “There’s nothing in this world that could have stopped me from finding you. I may not have known you prior to today, but I love you. You are a very special kid, and I will make sure to give you all the love my friends couldn’t give you. And then some more. Ah, I wish I wasn’t in this car right now, I really want to hug you right now…”

The tension was broken as his eyes filled with tears again, his face looking comical rather than truly sad. It was confusing, but somehow exhilarating.

“I’m…” Senkuu began, his words oddly loud in the ensuing silence. “Ten thousand million percent sure you’re insane.”

He waited, his heart in his throat— hoping against hope this would go over fine.

Byakuya laughed. A sound that came right from his belly, that echoed in their small compact car.

Tears were still running down his face, but he was smiling.

Smiling at Senkuu.

“That’s a big number,” he said. “You’re very certain I see.”

“That’s the biggest number I know,” Senkuu replied curtly. “It’s just a figure of speech, anything over a hundred percent is redundant.”

“We have a word for that, you know? One thousand million make a billion.” Byakuya said proudly, as if imparting new knowledge to him was routine, and normal and not a _chore_.

Senkuu was still marveling over this fact, this free knowledge given with no sneer or slur, stealing away the word for his further perusal, when Byakuya smiled wider. “But hey, I guess you’re absolutely right. Let’s be insane together, my son.”

(Senkuu wasn’t too sure what name to give the blooming warmth on his chest.

But he wasn't worried about it, not anymore. He could ask, and Byakuya would answer.

He was ten billion percent sure of that.)

**Author's Note:**

> What do you think? Like it? Hate it?
> 
> Let me know in the comments!


End file.
